Angry. It’s interesting the emotion to describe my thyroid cancer journey is angry, as I’m not normally an angry person. I’m normally good at rolling my eyes, sighing very deeply, ignoring things out of my control or making a change and moving on. Yet I felt angry when I found out I had cancer, angry when I scheduled my first surgery, angry as I recovered, angry if someone said I had “the good cancer,” angry when I struggled to find the right medication dosage, angry when I found out my first surgery wouldn’t be my last. And while angry is what I feel most often, normal is something I don’t think I’ll ever feel again.
I honestly didn’t think much about cancer before my diagnosis. Now, it’s all I think about. Cancer. I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer on November 12, 2014. It was just days before my 40th birthday and my world changed when my ENT left me a message to call him as soon as possible. This was two months after my OB/GYN noticed my thyroid seemed enlarged and sent me for an ultrasound. And one month after the ENT discussed the two nodules on my thyroid. And one week after my ENT sent me for a biopsy even with less than a 5% chance of cancer.
My first thought after hanging up the phone was to be angry. I started researching thyroid cancer and found it’s called “the good cancer” by those who clearly don’t have it. In fact, thyroid cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women. Many people with this cancer will just have their thyroid removed. Or maybe a round of radioactive iodine (RAI) for leftover thyroid cancer tissue after surgery.
read more
